How To Test The Fuel Injectors (2001-2004 2.0L Ford Escape)

Testing the fuel injectors on your 2.0L Ford Escape (2.0L Mazda Tribute) isn't hard. In this tutorial, I'll show you how in a step-by-step way.

I'm also gonna' show you a basic diagnostic/troubleshooting strategy that'll help you diagnose a 'dead' cylinder, in case you don't know where to start.

You can find this tutorial in Spanish here: Cómo Probar los Inyectores de Combustible (Ford 2.0L Escape) (at: autotecnico-online.com).

APPLIES TO: This tutorial applies to the following vehicles:

• 2.0L Ford Escape: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004.
• 2.0L Mazda Tribute: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004.

Symptoms Of A Bad Fuel Injector

Fuel injectors usually fail in one of three ways:

1. Internal failure: The fuel injector's internal winding develops a short-circuit or open-circuit problem. When this happens, the injector stops injecting fuel.
2. Clogged injector: The fuel injector becomes clogged and doesn't spray enough fuel, or it sprays incorrectly. In tech terms: it doesn't atomize the fuel properly.
3. Wiring issue: The injector comes ON and won't turn OFF (due to an electrical issue). In other words, it doesn't pulse ON and OFF but stays ON the whole time, spraying a tremendous amount of fuel as soon as you turn the ignition key to the ON position.

Here's a list of symptoms you may see when a fuel injector isn't spraying fuel into its cylinder:

• Rough idle.
• Lack of power.
• Hesitation when you accelerate your 2.0L Ford Escape (2.0L Mazda Tribute) down the road.
• Since the 2.0L Ford Escape (2.0L Mazda Tribute) is OBD II equipped, you'll see a misfire diagnostic trouble code (DTC):
  • P0300: Random Cylinder Misfire.
  • P0301: Cylinder #1 Misfire.
  • P0302: Cylinder #2 Misfire.
  • P0303: Cylinder #3 Misfire.
  • P0304: Cylinder #4 Misfire.

The focus of this tutorial is to see if the fuel injector's internal coil has failed (and thus causing the fuel injector to stop injecting fuel) but testing for a clogged injector isn't that much more complicated and I'll show you how too.

Where To Buy The Fuel Injector And Save

The following links will help you comparison shop for the fuel injector on your 2.0L Ford Escape:

Not sure if the above fuel injectors fit your particular 2.0L Ford Escape (2.0L Mazda Tribute)? Don't worry, once you click on the links and arrive on the site, they'll make sure it fits! If it doesn't, they'll find you the right one.

Checking The Injector's Internal Resistance

Fuel injectors are electro-mechanical valves designed to last a long time, but since the pintle (of each injector) opens and closes thousands of times to inject fuel into the cylinders (as the engine runs), they will eventually fail.

When it happens, the winding that drives the pintle usually develops an electrical fault.

The cool thing is we can confirm if this has happened by checking the injector's internal resistance with a multimeter. We're looking for one of two conditions:

• Open circuit issue: The injector's internal winding is open, and the multimeter displays infinite resistance (OL).
• Short circuit issue: The injector is shorted, and the multimeter shows a resistance reading at or near 0 Ohms.

What we want to see is that fuel injector resistance falls within 11 to 18 Ohms (factory spec) and that the readings for all four injectors are similar.

NOTE: Don't have a multimeter or need to upgrade yours? Check out my recommendation: Tekpower TP8268 AC/DC Auto/Manual Range Digital Multimeter (Amazon affiliate link).

Alright, here are the steps:

1. 1

   Disconnect the fuel injectors from their electrical connectors.
   
   NOTE: The illustration above will help you identify the cylinder # the fuel injector belongs to.

2. 2

   Place your multimeter in Ohms (Ω) mode.

3. 3

   Measure the resistance of the fuel injector across its two male spade terminals with the multimeter test leads.

4. 4

   Your multimeter should show 11 to 18 Ohms.

5. 5

   Write down the resistance value that your multimeter records for the specific fuel injector you're testing.
   
   The illustration above will help you identify the cylinder # the fuel injector belongs to.

6. 6

   Repeat steps 3 through 5 on the remaining fuel injectors.

Let's find out what your specific multimeter test results mean:

CASE 1: All fuel injector resistances are within specification. This confirms that your Ford Escape's (Mazda Tribute's) fuel injectors are electrically sound—none are shorted or open internally.

Here's why: If a fuel injector were shorted or open, your multimeter would have shown a resistance value way out of range compared to the others. Because all four readings are uniform and fall within specification, you can conclude the injectors themselves don't have an internal electrical issue.

If you still suspect that the fuel injector isn't injecting fuel, after all, the injector could pass its internal resistance test and be completely clogged, head over to: How To Find The Bad Or Clogged Fuel Injector.

CASE 2: One of the fuel injectors registered a completely different resistance value. This test result confirms that the fuel injector has an internal electrical problem and isn't injecting fuel into its cylinder. Replace the fuel injector with a new one.

How To Find The Bad Or Clogged Fuel Injector

At first glance, staring down at the engine, it can seem like an impossible task to figure out if a fuel injector is clogged or has failed and is causing a cylinder misfire on your 2.0L Ford Escape or Mazda Tribute.

But let me tell you, there is a method to the madness. Yep, there's a logical step-by-step process you can follow to pinpoint the injector causing the problem —or, in many cases, to confirm it's not the injector at all but something else behind the misfire.

In this section, I'm going to share my troubleshooting strategy that's worked for me over the years with a ton of success, and I'm certain it'll help you too:

1. Find the 'dead' cylinder first.
   • The success of your troubleshooting depends on this critical first step of identifying the dead cylinder.
   • This requires checking for specific misfire codes (P0301, P0302, P0303,P0304) or doing a cylinder balance test.
2. Once the 'dead' cylinder has been identified, the next step is to make sure it's getting spark.
   • You must use a dedicated spark tester to check for spark.
   • It's important that you check that the spark plug boot and spark plug are NOT soaked (or swimming) in engine oil (this is especially true on the 2.0L DOHC engines where the spark plug sits right on top of the cylinder head).
   • You should also remove the spark plug and check it for cracks or carbon tracks (this is SO important).
     • Here's a real life case study on carbon tracks and how they can cause a misfire: Carbon Tracks Are A Common Cause Of Ignition Misfires.
   • The key here is to eliminate the ignition coil, the spark plug wire and the spark plug as the cause of the cylinder's misfire.
     • The following tutorial will show you how to test the spark plug wires and the ignition coil: How To Test The 4 Cylinder Coil Pack (Ford 1.9L, 2.0L).
3. If spark is present, then the next step is checking that that cylinder has good compression.
   • This is one of the most overlooked tests when diagnosing a misfire or rough idle condition. You can find the test here:
     • How To Test Engine Compression (2001-2004 2.0L Ford Escape)..
4. Noid light test.
   • If every test above checks out OK, then the next step is to do a fuel injector Noid light test.
   • The Noid light test will help you make sure that the fuel injector is being activated.
   • The following Noid light article/tutorial may help you: How To Use A Noid Light And Where To Buy It (not the most in-depth article on the subject, but it should give you an idea of what's involved).

5. Swap the fuel injector with its neighbor on the fuel injector rail.
   • I'll swap out the 'dead' cylinder's fuel injector with its neighbor only if:
     1. The ignition system is not at fault.
     2. That cylinder's compression value is good (compared to the rest of the cylinders).
     3. The fuel injector resistance is good.
     4. I think the fuel injector is clogged.
     If the misfire now follows that swap, I now know that fuel injector is clogged (or bad) and needs to be cleaned or replaced.

Finding the bad/clogged fuel injector can be a challenge on your Ford 2.0L Escort (Mazda Tribute) but it's doable. What will help you save a lot of time, money and frustration is to first find the 'dead' cylinder. Following the above diagnostic strategy has saved my lunch quite a few times and I think it'll help you too!

More 2.0L Ford Escape Diagnostic Tutorials

You can find a complete list of 2.0L Ford Escape tutorials in this index:

• 2.0L Ford Escape Index Of Articles.

Here's a small sample of the tutorials you'll find in the index:

• How To Test Engine Compression (2001-2004 2.0L Ford Escape).
• How To Test The Throttle Position Sensor (2001-2004 2.0L Ford Escape).
• Oxygen Sensor Heater Test -P0135 (2001-2004 2.0L Ford Escape).
• How To Test The Starter Motor (2001-2004 2.0L Ford Escape).